ALBUM OF THE WEEK #114 - TRAVELING WILBURYS - TRAVELING WILBURYS VOL. 1 (DISCOVERING TOM PETTY - PART 9)

[RJhog (Admin)]

Artist: Traveling Wilburys

Genre: Rock

Country Of Origin: English/American

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Member: Individual members

Album: Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1

Released: October 18, 1988

Producer: Otis Wilbury/Nelson Wilbury

Singles: Handle With Care/End Of The Line

Song Of Week: Heading For The Light

Cover Me: N/A

RIAA Certification: Triple Platinum

Album Cover: 7/10

 

This week we have a non-band release to discuss.  It's the 1988 album from the Traveling Wilburys titled Traveling Wilbury's Vol. 1.   The album reached number 3 on the Billboard chart while selling in excess of 3 million copies.  Strangely, however, the two singles charted poorly, with neither cracking the Top 40.  

 

So, how did this come about.  According to Wikipedia, George Harrison needed to record a B-side for another single.  Because Jeff Lynne was in L.A. producing a record for Roy Orbison, the 3 of them decided to record it at Bob Dylan's house.  Harrison needed to pick up his guitar, which happened to be at Tom Petty's home, so he brought Petty back with him.  I don't think that's the exact way it happened according to Petty in the book I have, but it's close enough so that's what we'll go with.  So they recorded the song (Handle With Care) and the record executives decided it was too good be a B-side, and the rest, as they say, is history.  One side note I got from the book is that Petty said no matter who brought the song in or wrote the majority of it, they tried everybody on lead vocals for each song, then decided who would sing it based on who sounded best.  

 

The band eventually recorded a second album, titled Vol. 3, but that was after Orbison had died.  I won't be covering that one for this series, but you can pick up both in a CD/DVD remastered combo from Amazon Marketplace for a very decent price.  

 

As far as this album goes, it's okay for me.  The two singles are very good and have been chosen for the TP Ultimate Playlist.  Most of everything else is listenable, but not great.  There are two other pretty good songs here.  Heading For The Light is a taylor-made ELO song and I like it so I picked it for song of the week.  Tweeter And The Monkey Man, sang by Dylan, is another pretty cool tune.  I would have liked to hear Petty sing it.

 

Next week I think we'll do one more for this series before we break for a few weeks.

 

Ultimate Tom Petty Playlist (This Album): Handle With Care/End Of The Line

 

1. Handle With Care

2. Dirty World

3. Rattled

4. Last Night

5. Not Alone Any More

6. Congratulations

7. Heading For The Light

8. Margarita

9. Tweeter And The Monkey Man

10. End Of The Line

 

 

Ultimate TP Playlist (Running List): Breakdown/The Wild One, Forever/Strangered In The Night/Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)/American Girl/Magnolia/I Need To Know/Refugee/Here Comes My Girl/Even The Losers/Shadow Of A Doubt (A Complex Kid)/Don't Do Me Like That/You Tell Me/What Are You Doin' In My Life?/Louisiana Rain/The Waiting/A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)/Nightwatchman/Something Big/You Got Lucky/Deliver Me/Finding Out/We Stand A Chance/Straight Into Darkness/The Same Old You/A Wasted Life/Rebels/It Ain't Nothin' To Me/Don't Come Around Here No More/So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star/Insider/Southern Accents/Don't Bring Me Down/Jammin' Me/Runaway Trains/The Damage You've Done/Handle With Care/End Of The Line

 

[Scott]

I bought this when it first came out because Handle With Care was so good and name a better Supergroup with as many influences as this one?  And Handle With Care is still a spot on solid great tune!

Its the remainder of the album thats pedestrian.  Dirty World and Rattled are pretty good though I think they grew on me because of the running order of the album.  Somewhere around the 4th track I always lifted the needle and never really flipped the album over.  And I recall End Of The Line on the radio, and I like that one too.

So that's about it though.  Harrison, Lynne, Petty, Dylan, and Orbison made a pedestrian album.  Could've been so so much more.

[Mike Mills]

The two releases, "Handle With Care" & "End Of The line" are both excellent, but I remember track 4, "Last Night" getting quite a bit of airplay also. Scott, it's a shame you flipped the album at track 4, because I think the Roy Orbinson song "Not Alone Any More" is great! Orbison, just delivers such a smooth vocal. "Heading For The Light", is another hidden gem. I liked "Congratulations" & "Tweeter And The Monkey Man". 'Dirty World", "Rattled" & "Margarita" were ok too. There were no real dogs here for me, I don't have a problem listening to this from cover to cover.

[Jon]

Scott is weird because I liked this whole album. Didn't find it pedestrian at all, quite enthralling actually. Nice post, and I am contemplating a purchase on this one.

[Gordon Williams]

I've never been a Dylan fan myself, and I'm just a "greatest hits" guy on Petty. But so far, as I listen, I'm liking tracks 1 and 3. Track 4 has a little reggae feel for me...at least the main guitar riff. I can vision myself on a beach in the Caribbean, sipping drinks, listening to this. Should I go snorkle, even when being buzzed???

After track 4, I dont hear anything that does anything for me, until track 9. I'm liking this track, and honestly, this is the best vocal work I've heard Dylan do.

So, 4 tracks for me I thought were good....more I enjoyed that I expected. Definitely not a purchase, but enjoyed hearing it.

 

[RJhog (Admin)]

Thanks for listening Gordon.  Be sure and check out next week's AOTW.  It's more Petty, but in my opinion, much, much better than this.  Even the non-singles.  It's neck and neck with Damn The Torpedoes as my favorite Petty album.